Barcelona plays host to a Duke Kunshan University conference on October 7-8, bringing together leading thinkers in the humanities field and providing a unique platform for students to showcase their work.
Bearing the same title as the Pablo Picasso masterpiece “Ciencia y Caridad”, the Duke Kunshan Humanities Research Center (HRC) event features as its distinguished guest lecturer an expert on the artist, often described as the most important of the 20th century.
Appearing alongside Patricia Leighten, professor emerita of art, art history and visual studies at Duke University and one of the world’s authorities on cubism, are scholars from Asia and Europe speaking on topics including environmental crisis and world views of China.
The keynote speakers are: Isabel Durán Giménez-Rico, professor of North American literature and dean of the Faculty of Philology at Complutense University in Madrid; Joanna Page, professor of Latin American studies and visual culture at Cambridge University; Carles Prado-Fonts, associate professor in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya in Barcelona; and Biao Xiang, professor of social anthropology at Oxford University.
“Face-to-face engagement with leading academics from other institutions is vital to the life of the university,” said James Miller, a co-director of HRC and Duke Kunshan’s inaugural professor of humanities.
“I’m glad that we are able to make this happen in Barcelona, and I look forward very much to bringing the conference back to the Kunshan campus next year.”
Part of the in-person fall conference is to be held in the Picasso Museum, with attendees invited to a gala reception and private viewing of the “Ciencia y Caridad” painting, which translates as “science and charity”.
Most of the event takes place at Pompeu Fabra University, Ciutadella Campus, but it will also be accessible to the global DKU community via Zoom.
The program includes slots for students physically in attendance to present their own research to the conference and take part in small seminars with the keynote speakers. Students tuning in online will also have the opportunity to share their research.
The film “JuJu World” directed by DKU Class of 2022 graduate Remington Gillis will be screened before a roundtable panel discussion with Miller and HRC co-director Carlos Rojas and a closing ceremony wrap up proceedings.
Visit https://sites.duke.edu/dkuhumanities/humanities-fall-conference-ciencia-y-caridad for more details on the conference.
